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Harvest Hunt
The Harvest Hunt is an annual tradition in Miradero, a children's scavenger hunt set to coincide with the adults' making of the communal soup in the intersection of the town's two streets in front of the town hall. Lucky participated in the Harvest Hunt her first year back in Miradero, when Turo served as organizer. That year, the participants formed two teams, girls versus boys, and placed bets on winning. Prior to that year, no girl had ever won the contest."Lucky and the Harvest Hunt" The event is sometimes called the Midnight Harvest Hunt, although in Lucky's case, the event began at 9:00 pm and ended considerably before midnight. Participants *Turo (as organizer and judge), with Junipero Girls' team *Lucky, riding Spirit *Pru, riding Chica Linda *Abigail, riding Boomerang *Maricela, riding in Turo's cart drawn by Junipero Boys' team *Julian, riding Sorrel *Javier, riding Hacheta *Snips, riding Señor Carrots Stakes The Harvest Hunt does not appear to have a prize beyond the honor of winning and "going down in history" as a winner. However, the boys' and girls' teams, led by Lucky and Julian, respectively, wagered on the outcome of Turo's Harvest Hunt. Initially, the stakes were set at the winners doing the losers' chores the following day. Before the end of the hunt, however, the ante was upped: the losers would have to kiss Señor Carrots. Frame story To set the scene for the scavenger hunt that followed, Turo recounted the legend of Ol' Jack, a beleaguered pumpkin farmer transmogrified into a scarecrow by his obsession with guarding his pumpkin patch from crows. Objective The goal of the Harvest Hunt was to collect items hidden around Miradero in order to construct a scarecrow outside the train depot. Only one team could complete a scarecrow, owing to the fact that only one head—a jack-o-lantern carved by Turo—was available to be found. Items and their hiding places *Sticks from a dead oak tree in Goose Gulch (general location given by Turo) as the "skeleton" (stakes on which the clothing was to be hung) *Hay from the barn (location given by Turo, hay provided in exchange for an offering of food made to Junipero) as the "guts" (stuffing) of the scarecrow *A stuffed crow from the schoolhouse (general location given by Turo) to set on the scarecrow's shoulder *Bandana from Mr. Granger to place around the scarecrow's neck *Boots hidden in the steeple of the church *Shirt hidden in plain sight, hanging from a clothesline hung across the street from Miss Flores's house *Pants flying from the flagpole atop town hall *A carved pumpkin hidden in the pumpkin patch (general location given by Turo) in the hills above town as the head of the scarecrow Outcome The hunt ended in a race to secure the pumpkin head and place it on the bodies of the two teams' otherwise completed scarecrows. Initially, the girls' scarecrow was completed by Spirit, but Turo ruled Spirit "a horse" and therefore ineligible to win. Lucky quickly removed and replaced the head to win the contest for the girls. Pru noted that they would "go down in history". References Category:Events Category:Objects